THE MESSAGE OF NATURE
One day last summer, during a short stay in Kashmir, I went for a walk with some Kashmiri friends. We eventually reached a part of the countryside which had wide open spaces all around. We had come to a broad, green valley, surrounded by snow-capped mountains. From various places beneath the snow line, rivulets of water gushed forth like fountains. Pure, clean water could be seen flowing all around us. The burbling, rushing sound of the water, whispered in our ears like the voice of nature itself.
I paused to stand near one such spring. Its water course was about two feet across. Then I noticed that there was a large round stone right in the center of its onrushing waters, when the water reached the point where the stone bulged in its path, it did not attempt to break the stone in order to have a straight path for itself. It simply turned to the right and left of the stone, then flowed quietly onwards. Without any confrontation with the stone, it had carved out its own course.
I remarked to my Kashmiri friends how wonderful it was that such sights were to be seen all over Jammu and Kashmir. It is as if nature is sending out its message through these springs. These natural phenomena voicelessly tell us not to clash with the rock, but simply to flow on either side of it.
The principle of the flowing spring applies to all roads worldwide. Many vehicles travel on these roads at the same time. Each vehicle turns right or left to avoid collisions and find its own path. If these vehicles didn’t follow this principle, the road would cease to be a road and would become a massive graveyard.
The lesson from the spring was a turning point in my life. It revealed to me the secret to living. After that, I adopted this approach in my life and started advising others to do the same.
In this world, social life is like a busy road. Everyone driving on it follows the advice announced by the flowing spring. What remains is to apply this method to other parts of life as well. This is the only way to build a successful life and a peaceful society.
Whenever someone encounters an obstacle or sees another person blocking their way, their first instinct is often to remove that obstacle or person. They begin to believe that their journey can’t continue until it’s cleared.
However, this thinking is flawed. Just as there are thousands of stones in the path of a flowing stream, there are also countless obstacles on life’s journey. If the requirement is that all these obstacles must be removed before starting, then the journey will never begin. One obstacle after another will arise, and a person will keep battling these obstacles until their last moment.
In such a situation, the practical approach is to keep moving forward while ignoring the obstacles. When someone views things this way, they’ll see that obstacles have limits. Despite these obstacles, open paths are everywhere. If you shift your focus from the obstacles and look around, you’ll find a nearby way to keep moving toward your goal.
In this world, a person’s choice isn’t between a life with or without conflict but between a conflict-free life and one that leads to destruction. Everyone must decide which path to take.
